当中国古典碰撞世界语言，文艺少女李莲如要让全世界感知中国文学的美

关于最美动词，人民大学附属中学初二女生李莲如的答案乍看似乎有些消极：slow down。

她的演讲阐明了她选择这个词组的原因：当今社会人们太忙于追名逐利，遗忘了生活中的很多美。她希望人们可以放慢角度去感知过程，如果用一个词去定义自己，她希望是快乐，而不是荣誉或者财富。这篇独出心裁的演讲也帮她赢得了第15届中国日报社“21世纪·新东方杯”全国中小学英语演讲比赛总决赛初中组的亚军。

其实刚开始的时候，我想到的是chase, rush这样的词。后来在跟妈妈出去旅游时，刚好碰到一个雨天，当是我们在郊区，周围特别安静、特别美。我突然想到这个世界变化太快，人们太匆忙，忽略了生活中很多美的东西，于是就想到了slow down。

通过这篇演讲，我特别想说服别人慢下来，感受生活中细微的美好。有人说世界上最悲伤的事情就是美丽的消失，希望美可以让人感觉到。

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=q0392tfxipq&width=500&height=375&auto=0
13岁的李莲如是一位不折不扣的文艺少女。她热爱中国古典文化，读《孟子》、读《红楼梦》，也热爱国外经典文学，丰富的阅读也让为她在演讲中积累的大量的素材。

在即兴演讲时，我抽到的题目是关于代沟，我觉得代沟不存在的。为什么人们之间有代沟？因为时代变化很快，人们想法变化很快，有时候人们无法互相理解，不能相互理解的原因是人们的傲慢与偏见的态度。但是人们其实是可以互相理解的，于是我套用了《傲慢与偏见》这本小说的内容来回答这个问题。

半决赛关于“最好的礼物”，我的答案是heart of an infant “赤子之心”。这个词是孟子最先提出的，我在演讲中举了曹雪芹的例子。我觉得中国传统文学非常美，希望可以向世界传播。中国古代文人有一种赤诚的精神，值得我们学习。我特别喜欢古代文学，包括诗词、小说都很喜欢。古代诗词对中国人影响很大，很多人现在都会去寒山寺、玉门关可能就因为那一两句古诗。

参加这次比赛也改变了李莲如对于“说”的看法。曾经她觉得从思想到语言总是有一定差距，语言很难完全地表述思想。现在她觉得不管结果如果，表达很重要。

这次比赛有一些选手选择的最美动词是talk或者speak，这也给我了很多启发。我曾经觉得“说”是有一些肤浅的，很多深邃的思想不能通过语言来表达，经过一层输出后真正想表达的意思可能会打一个折扣。但是通过这次经历我的想法有了改变，虽然说可能并不能让别人完全了解，但是至少表明了一个立场、看法和态度。交流、沟通是思想的传递和碰撞，这本身就是一种美。

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=r0392mj0kph&width=500&height=375&auto=0
演讲稿：

The most beautiful verb in the world is slowing down

Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever noticed that when the candles were lightened, moths from every direction would turn their way and fly desperately to the flame. Most of them would be swallowed by the fire. And others knowing how dangerous it could be, cannot stop themselves from being allured.

Who are the moths? We are. Everyday, moths chase after light and we chase after whatever we lack of. When I see myself, I know that in my past thirteen years, I spent most of my time chasing  praises and awards, rushing from one goal to another,. And I can even imagine my future, which I would dash from one destiny to another and would get tempted by the external world. But the thing is, we would lose the most precious things in the world, when we do nothing but chasing and racing in such a high speed.

So, why not slow down and enjoy the beauty of life?

It takes ten years to grow a tree, and a hundred year to rear a person. As for me, I would slow down, so that I can enjoy every minute of my childhood. Even though I am not speeding up as most of my peers, I become more dedicated and delighted. That is the way life should be, isn’t it?

My dear judges and friends, how I hope we could slow down and have a chat just as old friends, instead of getting to know each other in such a hurry within only five minutes. People say that in the future it wouldn’t take us much time to know a person, scan his code and we will see everything. What do you want others to see? A long list of honors and awards? Fabulous wealth? To me, thanks to slowing down and concentrating on my life, I would like to present only but one word—happiness.

更多选手精彩视频、评委独家专访请守候小二后续推送！